A Threefold 'Thank You' to Los Angeles
Dear Los Angeles: I'm Thankful For...
-thumb-110x110-213475.jpg)
A Photo Gallery of the Things I am Grateful for This Year
Canter's & Ice Cream Sandwich Could Live in Perfect Harmony
I LOVE L.A.! My Thanksgiving Thanks
Ask a motorcop why they write tickets to cars disobeying signs and pedestrians walking against the man's hand and you'll hear a lot of them say it's a sign of "arrogance." When justified like that, they have no problem writing hundreds of tickets. Last Friday, StreetsblogLA blogger Damien Newton observed a sting at Western and Wilshire: "I counted two pedestrians who didn't make it across before the red. One of whom was an elderly woman who started as soon as she got the white person and who received no help from the LAPD officers busy writing tickets," he observed.
He also saw over 30 cars run a red light at the same intersection with no enforcement. What's the message Newton took away from this? "Impatient drivers running red lights aren't causing crashes throughout the city. It's the fault of pedestrians who make it across the street before the traffic signal turns red. Of course, this 'blame the pedestrian' mentality also exists with the LADOT who believes removing unsignalized crosswalks is the best way to make crossing the street safer for pedestrians."
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
L.A. Cops would shit their pants over this issue if they worked a day in NYC.
Yeah, same in Chicago
In the early '80s my 80-year-old grandmother got a ticket for walking too slowly across Sherman Way (at Sepulveda). There was no island in the middle for her to wait on or anything. How else was a non-driver to get across the street?? She was embarrassed and just paid the fine, but we all thought she should go to court and let the cop explain himself and what on earth he was thinking. He should have been helping her across the street!
"There was no island in the middle for her to wait on or anything. How else was a non-driver to get across the street??"
Ahhhh, yes. Sweet, sweeeet, car culture.
I could understand it if they were coming from the theory of "it's more dangerous for a pedestrian to "break the law" because they are more likely to suffer severe consequences in case of an accident." We know cars rare;y stop for pedestrians, regardless of the law, so I always thought LA's draconian jaywalking laws were mostly to try to keep people safer. But it looks as though they are coming at it from a "we are douchebags and want increased revenue" standpoint. Afterall, it's easier to stop and ticket a pedestrian than it is a car.
I see no problem when the police issue tickets in instances like this.
See, when people cross the street when the light is already red, or immediately almost red, then it creates a backlog of traffic because the drivers who are attempting to turn are unable to because there are still people in the road. If pedestrians cross when they shouldn't, it creates a back log of traffic in the turn lanes, which exacerbates congestion in that line, and further in all the lanes immediately around it. If pedestrians knew when to cross the street, that back log would be eliminated, there would be less traffic and everyone in the city would benefit more.
I highly doubt ad hoc personal stories about a grandmother with a bum leg carrying 200 lbs of groceries getting tickets. Sorry, I just do.
Learn how to cross the street people.
The police also issue tickets for pedestrians who cross the street and jump out of the crosswalk limit lines as they apprach the curb. What a jack-assian policy.